Make It In America
by I AM NOT TIM
Summary: After their 1st year of college, the gang reunites in summer in Hollywood. The gang must take on the real world, as they struggle with love and life. Tori decides to do music. Cat & Trina both think about taking huge steps in their lives. Jade & Robbie both have no idea where their lives are headed, Andre and Beck go into business together. Tandre, Jandre, Cabbie, eventual Bade.
1. Chapter 1

_**Following Graduation from Hollywood Arts, the gang (For The Most Part), went there seperate ways. Jade and Beck broke up during their Junior Year but remained friends. Tori and Andre dated from the beginning of their Senior Year to the end of the summer, but decided to break up because they were going to colleges on opposite sides of the country. Even though the gang is mostly spread out across the country, they all keep in touch via Twitter and through texts.**_

_Tori Vega just finished her freshman year at Syracuse in New York. She is majoring in music and minoring in acting. She gets very good grades, but she has no idea what she is going to do once she graduates. She is the star of the basketball team, but she only plays in order to fit in and be popular. Tori took them all the way to the Final Four in the championship tournament along side her best friend, teammate, and roomate, Nia (who is a Sophomore)._

_Trina Vega just finished her junior year at UCLA, University Of California at Los Angeles. She still lives with her parents and commutes to school every day. She was heartbroken when Tori decided to go off to Syracuse, but eventually accepted it. She is the star of their basketball team and she plans on playing in the WNBA after graduation. Trina took them all the way to the championship game, where they lost by 5. She majors in Criminal Law and minors in Acting but she only gets grades barely good enough to play basketball._

_Andre Harris just finished his freshman year at USC, University Of Southern California. He majors in music and double minors in acting and culinary arts. His father is a famous record company owner, and Andre is set for life no matter what he does, but he gets good grades and works hard because he wants to be his own man instead of having everything handed to him. He plays football just for fun, he doesn't get very much playing time though. He still works on his music and plans to be a singer-songwriter after graduation. Andre produces music via FL Studio. He currently dates Jade West._

_Jade West just finished her freshman year at USC, University of Southern California. She majors in cinematography and minors in acting. She is unhappy in college and has barely passing grades, and only goes not to disappoint her father. She writes several screenplays and in the summer after graduation, she filmed an independent horror film (starring herself and her friend from high school, True Jackson). Using Andre's money for funding, the film is currently in post-production. She gets extremely jealous whenever Andre talks to Tori._

_Cat Valentine just finished her freshman year at USC, University of Southern California. Cat went to USC because she was afraid of leaving too far from home, and because her best friend Jade went. She is one of the two stars of USC's basketball team along with her roommate, Trina's childhood best friend, Dana Cruz (who is a sophomore). They took USC to the final eight teams and were eliminated by Trina and UCLA. She majors in Acting and minors in Music. She is very smart, but is not confident in her ability, so she takes all easy classes and gets all A's. She is debating on whether or not she wants to play in the WNBA after graduation. She has a small role in Jade's film._

_Beck Oliver just finished his freshman year at the University of Indiana. Beck majors in music and minors in acting. He is planning on mixing and mastering music (aka making music sound professional) and does work for local artists for very cheap, which brings him tons of business. He is pretty smart, but spends most of his time on music, so he gets average grades. He has a small role in Jade's film._

_Robbie Shiparo just finished his freshman year at NYU, New York University. Robbie majors in sports journalism and minors in computer science. He is very popular at NYU and gets above average grades. He occasionally hangs out with Tori, since their schools aren't that far away. After graduation, he plans on being an ESPN analyst._

Tori, Robbie, and Nia sat in the airport. Nia had a ticket for a flight to BWI (Baltimore-Washington International Airport) that left in a half an hour. She was going back home to DC. Robbie had a ticket for a flight to LAX that left in an hour. Tori had a ticket for one to LAX that left in a few minutes. Tori hugged Nia for the 56th time that day.

"I'm going to miss you SO much!" Tori exclaimed.

"You told me...over fifty times...in the past two hours." Nia responded.

"I know but, you showed me around campus, we shared a room this year. And the tournament was SO crazy. We've been through so much in this short amount of time. I love you Nia! You're almost like a big sister to me!"

Nia smiled.

"I'm gonna miss you too, Tori."

"Your flight is about to leave." Robbie noted.

"Alright. See ya in L.A. Robbie, and Nia, I'll text you as soon as I can, bye!" Tori said, going off to catch her plane.

**Meanwhile in L.A., Trina sat at home with Dana. They were watching tape from the championship game.**

"Rotation. They set a pick on DeAsia and she ended up covering the same girl I was covering and #90 got wide open." Trina said, sipping her apple juice. She had spent all of her weekends since the title game loss watching tape of the game and picking apart all the flaws of every play.

"Trina, just stop watching game tape. It was three months ago. You guys lost, just get over it." Dana said, bored.

"You don't get it Dana. You guys lost in the Elite eight. We lost in the championship game. We were 5 points away from becoming famous."

"You are famous to college basketball fans."

"I'm famous at UCLA. Outside of there everyone only knows me as 'that cocky girl from UCLA.'...here comes the play where Cherrie over ran the play and made me have to shoot a contested three pointer."

"You could've passed it." Dana said, getting up and going to the kitchen.

"To who? Cherrie over ran the play, I couldn't get it to her."

"#33 was open."

"The play was for Cherrie."

"That's your problem. You focus to much on the plays. You have to just go with the flow. You don't get that because most of the plays are for you so you just run plays all the time. When the play breaks down, you have to know what to do."

Trina turned off the DVD player.

"Shut up Dana. You don't get it, you aren't a point guard. You play forward."

"Yeah, okay." Dana said smiling, pouring some soda. Holly Vega came downstairs.

"Hey Trina, hey Dana."

"Hey Mrs. Vega." Dana said.

"What time am I getting Tori from the airport?" Trina asked.

"In a few hours. I'll call you." Holly said, leaving through the front door.

"I miss her so much. She wouldn't complain about watching game tape." Trina said, Dana laughed.

"She came down for Thanksgiving and Christmas."

"That doesn't mean I can't miss her."

"I'm an only child, so I 'wouldn't understand'. I gotta get home, see ya later Trina."

"Bye Dana." She said as Dana left. Trina turned back on the game tape.

**Andre and Jade were at Nozu, having a lunch date.**

"Everyone's coming back down today." Andre said.

"Everyone?" Jade asked.

"Robbie, Beck..."

"Robbie, Beck..." Jade repeated.

"...Sinjin."

"Sinjin?"

"Sinjin Van Cleef."

"Yeah, it'll be just like old times. You, me, Beck, Robbie, Cat, and Sinjin hanging out." Jade said, sarcastically.

"Well, I didn't want to bring her up because I know you hate when I do." Andre shrugged.

"Even though I don't like Tori, you guys all do so obviously she would hang out with us. I mean, as long as you and Tori aren't alone, I don't care."

They ate in awkward silence.

"Do you still love Tori?" Jade asked. Andre looked her in the eyes.

"I love you, Jade."

"I know you do. I asked if you love Tori."

"All that matters is that I love you, and you love me."

"You still haven't answered my question, sweetheart." Jade said. Jade only called Andre 'honey' or 'sweetheart' or 'baby' when she noticed he was hiding something in fear of her getting mad.

"Do you still love Beck?"

"Deep down in the bottom of my heart, yes." Jade responded.

Andre sighed.

"Me and Tori's relationship is history. We're just best friends now."

"That still doesn't answer my question."

"No. No I do not love Tori. I'm the one that broke up with her."

"You only broke up with her because she goes to school in New York."

"Do you want our relationship to be successful?"

"Of course, Andre."

"Then stop dwelling on the past."

"Okay." Jade said, defeated.

"Was she better in bed than me?" Jade asked.

Andre laughed.

"Please stop, Jade." He said.

"I have to know. I know you took her virginity, but was she better than me?"

"How did you know?"

"She told Cat and Cat told me. So was she better or not?"

"It's about equal. Hey look, it's Cat!" Andre said, changing the subject.

"Equal?" Jade asked, offended.

"Hey guys!" Cat said sitting down.

"Haven't seen you since the game." Andre said.

"Yeah, I've been kinda bummed out ever since. But Dana got me a stuffed elephant and it's really cool! You guys should see it sometime!"

Jade laughed.

"Same old Cat." She said.

"Do you guys think I have a shot at playing pro next year? A lot of people have told me that teams want me to come out of college now and go pro."

"You are the fastest girl I've ever seen, but I think you should stay in college for at least another year to get some more experience under your belt. You play too wild and you make bad impulse decisions." Andre responded.

"I say you should come out now. What if...god forbid, but what if you get hurt and you can never play again. You aren't getting paid for playing in college. Why wait another year to get that huge paycheck when you can have it now?" Jade asked.

"Well, I wasn't planning on leaving early at all. I was gonna stay all 4 years and then decide, but most of the good players leave after 1 year, two max. Most of the seniors going into the league get drafted lower and paid less."

"If you have 3 more good seasons, you'll be just fine Cat." Andre said. His phone vibrated. He looked down at it. He had a text message.

_Beck_

_Just landed at LAX, can you come pick me up?_

"Beck's home." Andre said, getting up.

"Yay!" Cat screamed as she and Jade got up. They drove over to pick up Beck. They all went back to Andre's mansion.

"So you're mastering music?" Andre asked as they walked into the living room.

"Yeah."

"Maybe you could work for my dad."

"That's the plan." Beck said with a smile.

"Plug up your laptop, let me listen to some stuff you did out in Indy. Maybe you could help me master my stuff."

"Don't you have your dad's people for that?"

"I...I like to seperate myself from him whenever possible. You know, be my own man." Andre said.

Andre and Beck walked off to the music studio room while Jade and Cat sat in the living room.

"Does Tori still have feelings for Andre?" Jade asked.

"Why are you asking me?" Cat responded.

"Tori tells you everything."

"I'm not saying."

"That means she does. if she didn't, you would say so."

"You pay more attention to Tori than you do to Andre." Cat said.

Jade shrugged.

**Tori left the airport, pulling her suitcases to the parking lot to see Trina waiting for her, with the trunk open.**

Trina saw Tori in her Yasiel Puig Los Angeles Dodgers Jersey, her blue Los Angeles Clippers hat and some blue Adidas shoes Trina had bought her for Christmas. Trina rolled her eyes as Tori got into the passenger seat.

"You can take the girl out of L.A., but you can't take that stupid Clippers hat off." Trina smiled.

Tori laughed and hugged Trina. Trina was wearing a Los Angeles Lakers hat, a Lakers jersey, and gold and purple Kobe Bryant Nikes.

"Sorry about the Lakers this year." Tori said, teasing Trina because the Lakers missed the playoffs and the Clippers made it.

"Shut up."

Trina playfully punched her in the arm and started driving.

"Since when do you like the Dodgers?"

"I always liked the Dodgers."

"I thought you liked the Giants like I do. Those were our teams. Basketball, LA Lakers. Football, San Fransisco 49ers. Baseball, San Fransisco Giants." Trina said. Tori laughed.

"I don't like the Giants any more, and I never liked the Lakers. Basketball, Clippers. Football, Niners. Baseball, Dodgers."

"You only like the Dodgers because you have a crush on Puig."

"True." Tori said, blushing.

"I'm upset you guys lost in the final four to Conneticut."

"Why?"

"If you won, we would've played you. And beat you."

Tori scoffed.

"Yeah right."

"Mom told me not to tell you, but she made stuffed peppers."

"I miss Mom's stuffed peppers SO much, you have no idea."

"I miss you a lot. I know you have Nia and all so you didn't miss me that much."

"I still missed you. By the end of the summer, you'll have driven me crazy and I'll be excited to get the heck away from you, but right now, this is nice."

Trina laughed.

"Same."

Trina drove in awkward silence.

"What's Nia like?" She asked.

"She's really cool."

"She looks like she fucking lives in the gym. I saw her on TV during the Conneticut game. Her arms are so big and buff."

"Yeah, she actually got me to start working out. We used to go to the gym 4 times a week. I have abs now because of her." Tori said, laughing.

"She's almost as buff as Dana."

"If Dana had short hair and smaller boobs, I would swear she was a gay man." Tori joked.

"She knocked me out last week."

"Well, you are annoying."

Trina rolled her eyes.

"She did it by accident."

"How?"

"She punched me in the face."

Tori looked at Trina confused.

"I forgot to tell you. We both do MMA now and..."

"You do MMA!?"

"Yeah, and me and Dana were sparring because we are the best two on the team, and Dana was trying to see how strong my blocking was, but she accidentally punched past my arm and straight on the bottom of my chin."

"You're too pretty to do mixed martial arts."

"I'm a karate champion."

"You got those trophies when you were a little girl."

"Still got it. I'm pretty good at kick boxing and brazillian jin-jitsu."

"Brazillian what?"

"BJJ is basically submission fighting. It basically means I can make people cry and tap out in a lot of different ways. Arm bars, kimoura locks, ankle locks, leg bars, chokeholds, etc."

"But MMA is everything mixed together. Boxing, karate, BJJ, Wrestling. There's almost no rules!"

"I'm a fighter. And it keeps me in shape over the summer for basketball." Trina bragged.

"There are easier ways to stay and shape than risking your face getting beaten like a piece of meat."

"You forget. I was quarterback of our pop warner football league when I was 9. Oh and don't forget that throughout middle school and high school, I've played softball, soccer, swimming, and basketball. You may be the better singer and actor, but I'm the athlete of the family."

"I have better endurance. I ran Cross Country and Track."

"All that means is that you can play sports longer than I can without getting tired. I'm still better."

Tori and Trina had a friendly debate about who was the better athlete, all the way back home.

"I'm going to text Andre and see where everyone is hanging out." Tori said, getting out of the car.

"You still like him." Trina teased.

"Like him!? I'm madly in love with him. He is my everything. I begged him not to break up with me. But it made sense. The distance would've killed us...and he's with Jade now."

"Spend the day with us at home. Go hang out with your friends tomorrow."

"Fine."

"Do you smoke?"

"Never! You smoke cigarrettes!?"

"No."

"You smoke marijuana?"

"A little bit." Trina whispered.

"TRINA!" Tori shouted. Trina sushed her.

"Dad is a police officer. If he finds out, he'll kill you." Tori whisper yelled.

"It's not noticeable. I just smoke enough to relax. And it helps me sleep, you know I have insomnia. I never get like high. I just get really calm and relaxed. And it's like, I dunno, three times a month? Just relax Tori."

Tori just stood in shock.

"I feel like you're gonna tell mom or dad." Trina said.

"I won't tell, but you need to quit. Seriously, they drug test in the WNBA...no wonder your grades are so low." Tori said, muttering the last part.

"Tori, I'm not a pothead or a stoner. I swear"

"I'm going to hang out with Andre tonight after dinner, I have something really important to ask him."

Tori got out her phone and texted Andre as they walked into the house.

**What will happen with Trina's "secret"? And what Tori has to ask Andre ISN'T what you think. Also, Robbie returns.**

**Review and Subscribe!**

**\- I AM NOT TIM**


	2. Chapter 2

**David and Holly sat in the kitchen eating stuffed peppers. Trina and Tori were eating on the couch while Trina forced her to watch game tape.**

"Okay, so you see #22, right?" Trina asked. Tori nodded.

"Watch her set this pick and get the mismatch, and then that gives #13 a wide open shot. If I had gotten there quicker on the help defense..."

"We've been watching tape of this game for an hour, Trina." Tori said.

"We can watch tape of my game against Creighton."

"No."

"How about my game against USC?"

"No."

"Texas A&amp;M?"

"Did you ask Tori if she wanted to watch some of her OWN game tape?" Holly asked. Trina stopped talking and looked at Tori.

"I don't want to watch ANY game tape. Mine, yours, anybody's." Tori said, Trina stared at her for a bit.

Tori got up and went to the kitchen, she looked at her phone.

"Andre's coming to pick me up in a few." Tori said, washing her plate.

"I hear him outside now." David said.

"Bye guys, I love you so much." Tori said, hugging her parents. She went over to hug Trina and Trina turned away from her. Tori rolled her eyes and went outside. She saw a black SUV heard unfamiliar rap music. She got into the backseat on the far right. Jade was sitting in the back on the far left and Cat sat in between them. Andre was in the drivers seat Beck was in the passenger seat. Everyone greeted Tori except Jade.

"Hey guys. What's this song?"

"This rapper in Indiana that Beck mastered music for." Andre said.

"Mastered?" Tori asked.

Beck smiled.

"Made it sound professional. Like put the effects in and stuff."

"You do that?"

"Yeah."

Tori thought. Soon they were at Andre's mansion. They walked in the living room and Robbie was sitting there.

"This is like old times." Tori said as they all sat at the table.

"Remember Robbie used to have that stupid puppet?" Jade asked. They all laughed.

"And Cat was addicted to skymall." Beck added. They all laughed again.

"And I wrote that really cool song about broken glass!"

Everyone just looked at Robbie.

"So, what have you guys got planned for after graduation?"

"I might drop out." Jade said. Andre looked at her and sighed.

"Jade, you aren't dropping out."

"The only reason I'm in college is to prove my dad wrong. He said I'll never be able to be successful through theater and he was right."

"Jade, you're really smart." Cat said as Andre put his arm around her.

"All I've done this year is finish 7 projects, write a bunch of scripts, smoke a bunch of weed and pass all my final tests to barely make it to my sophomore year." Jade sighed, crossing her arms.

Tori raised her eyebrows in shock.

"If you tried, you could do it." Beck said calmly.

"I tried but I gave up halfway through the school year. It's too much. What are you doing Robbie?" Jade asked, getting the attention off of herself.

"I dunno. I'm thinking comedian/musician at this point. I'm pretty funny and clever."

"What kind of music do you do?" Beck asked.

"Comedy songs with my piano and my guitar. Some rap. I'll play you something tomorrow. What about you, Beck?"

"I meet people like you and make their music sound professional like the stuff on the radio."

"How?"

"Audacity, FL Studio, etc. What's up with you, Cat?"

"Well, I want to play pro basketball but I'm scared."

"You'll do great." Tori re-assured her.

"Thanks I guess. Andre, are you going to work with your father?" Cat asked.

"I want to produce, write, and record my own music and use his label to promote it. What about you Tori?"

Tori took a deep breath.

"Well. I guess I could play basketball, but I don't know. I was actually gonna ask you something, Andre."

"What?"

Jade looked over at Tori closely.

"Well, I didn't want to be a bother, but..."

"But what?" Jade asked, cutting her off. Andre elbowed Jade.

"Since you're really good at writing and producing music, and your father has a record label, I was wondering if you could help me maybe produce and write and record an album and release it on your dad's record label?"

"That's asking for a whole lot." Jade said.

"Jade." Andre warned. Jade rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I could. Except, I don't want Dad's people involved." Andre smiled.

"Then how will we do it?"

"You and I will write all the songs and I'll produce the beats, then record them in my studio and Beck can master, if that's alright with him..."

"Yeah." Beck nodded.

"And then I'll get my dad's marketing team to promote it and release it on his label."

"Wow, thanks! How much do you guys want for helping me."

Beck and Andre looked at each other and smiled.

"6." Beck said.

"Six what? Six dollars? Six hundred? Six thousand? Six million?" Tori asked.

"Maybe 7." Andre said, smiling again.

"Seven what?"

"Usually I'd say 8, but Tori's a friend."

"GUYS! EIGHT WHAT!?" Tori yelled.

"Don't get an attitude, I'll jack it up to 9." Andre said. Cat and Jade laughed. Tori sighed.

"You don't have to pay us, Tori." Beck said.

"Really!?"

Andre nodded.

Tori ran over and hugged Andre, then she ran over and hugged Beck.

"You guys are awesome!"

The gang hung out for a few hours until they heard a horn honk outside.

"It's Trina." Cat said, looking out of the window.

"See you guys!" Tori said, grabbing her purse and heading towards the door.

Everyone responded except Jade, Andre looked at Jade disapprovingly. Jade shrugged her shoulders as Tori left. Once Tori had closed the door, Andre turned to Jade.

"Why are you so jealous of Tori?" Andre asked.

Everyone fell silent.

"I'm not! I just don't like her!" Jade said, defensively. Robbie quickly changed the subject.

Meanwhile, Tori got into the car.

"Sorry about earlier, Tori." Trina said, awkwardly.

"Me too."

Trina began driving.

"Since I lost to UConn in the championship game and you lost to UConn in the final four game, I was watching some of your game tape, and I noticed something."

"And what's that?"

"Every time you drive, you hesitate one way and then take off the opposite way. You do it every time, it's obvious you're going the opposite way. You never double fake or just go in one direction. It's just one fake out and then you go the other way."

"Oh...I hadn't noticed. Now that I think about it..."

"And what's number 5's name? Nia? She takes too many shots."

"Yeah, I guess. She's pretty good though."

"You're better. She's too aggressive, you aren't aggressive enough. If you took more shots and she took less, you guys would be the best in the country."

"You're the only good player at UCLA so you don't have this issue." Tori smiled.

"Yeah..."

They rode in silence.

"Trina, when's the last time you've smoked?"

"Like 2 weeks ago."

Tori nodded.

"With who?"

"Elena."

"Jade's older sister?"

"Yeah, SHE'S a stoner."

"Explains a lot."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You seriously aren't going to tell Mom and Dad."

"I won't tell Dad."

Trina stopped the car and looked at Tori, annoyed. Tori sighed.

"I talk to Mom about everything."

"Tori."

"Alright fine, I won't tell Mom either."

Trina looked at Tori for a little bit more, then started driving again. She turned on her phone and plugged it into the car stereo system. She was playing "Yayo" by Snootie Wild and Yo Gotti on full blast, Tori turned it down.

"Why do you always listen to thuggish loud rap music?" Tori asked.

Trina ignored her and turned it back up. Tori sighed and sat as the bass shaking the seats was giving her a headache. Soon they were home, it was 12:04 AM. They walked into the living room. Trina grabbed the DVD labeled. "Syracuse vs Conneticut, Final Four" and put it in. They both sat down.

"Earlier today, UCLA defeated Texas A&amp;M to make the national title game. This is a win-win situation for the fans. If Syracuse wins, we get to see the Vega sisters have a showdown in the championship game. If UConn wins, we see the two best upperclassmen in the country, Rhonda Richards and Trina Vega face off in the championship game." The commentator said.

"Where did you get this?" Tori asked.

"I was going into your suitcase to borrow a shirt and this was in one of your jacket pockets."

"Classic Trina."

Trina laughed.

"Now Introducing The Starting Line-Up For The Syracuse Orange! Starting At Forward, number 13, Courtney Lewis! Starting at Center, number 28, Julie Lampley! Starting at the other Forward, number 22, Ashley Burks! Starting at shooting guard, number 11, Tori Vega! And starting at point guard, number 5, Nia Moseby!" The announcer yelled.

Tori went and got popcorn while the announcer announced Conneticut's starting line-up. She caught the end of it, hearing the announcement of their best two players.

"At point guard, number 13, Hazel Meredith! And starting at Center, number 90, the women's college basketball 2014 MVP, Rhonda Richards!"

"Where did I finish in the MVP voting? All I was told is that I didn't make the top 5." Tori asked.

"Uh...1 was Rhonda, 2 was Lexi Reed from Texas A&amp;M, 3 was me, 4 was J-Moze."

"Jennifer? Where is she playing?"

"Mercer. 5 was Dana, 6 was you, 7 was that girl from Kansas, 8 was Cat, that's all I remember. Oh and Addie was 10. I don't remember 9."

"Where does Addie play?"

"Mercer."

"Wow, all your friends seem to be at Mercer."

"Yeah."

Trina and Tori watched the game, occasionally, Trina would pause and re-wind, showing Tori mistakes that were made. Eventually they both fell asleep sitting next to each other on the couch.

"And this one is all but over folks. With 32 seconds left and Connecticut leading by 12, it looks like we will see a Connecticut victory and a UCLA vs Connecticut national championship game."

"Syracuse would need a miracle to win this one."

As Trina and Tori sat together and slept, the video went off. Tori leaned on Trina's shoulder and they slept in complete silence besides Trina's snoring. Tori snapped awake. She noticed Trina asleep, she didn't pay it any attention but then she realized.

"Trina, you have insomnia..." Tori started.

"_Oh my god, she smoked right before she picked me up. She drove me around, she could've killed me!" _Tori thought, she went upstairs.

**How will Tori's album turn out, Will Trina's secret come out? And will Jade and Andre work the Tori jealousy issues out?**


	3. Chapter 3

Trina got out of the shower, got dressed and walked downstairs, to see Tori standing at the bottom of the staircase.

"Good morning, Trina!" Tori said, with a huge smile.

"What's with the 'I need something from you' smile?"

"I need a ride."

Trina sighed.

"Let me get my keys." Trina said, rolling her eyes and going back upstairs.

Trina and Tori were riding in Trina's car. It was a pink 911 Porsche with big gold colored, diamond encrusted rims. "No Games" by Rick Ross and Future was blasting through the car speakers until Tori turned it off.

"What, Tori?" Trina asked, annoyed.

"I didn't appreciate how you put my life in danger last night." Tori said.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, smoking then driving me home."

"Would you stop freaking out over nothing, Tori? You know I would never endanger your life. I've driven after smoking a bunch of times."

"That doesn't make it okay."

"If you have a problem with it, stop fucking asking me for rides every 5 minutes." Trina said, raising her voice.

It was silent in the car for a bit.

"I just care about you being safe, Trina." Tori said, quietly.

"I realize that, Tori. And I'm sorry for snapping, but, just trust me on this one, I know what I'm doing, I'm not stupid. I'm not going to get hurt and I'm not going to get caught."

Tori sighed.

"Okay."

"I always forget, is it this left turn?"

"Uh...no, make the next left."

Trina made a left and drove straight until they were at the huge golden gates that read "JH".

The guards recognized Trina's bright, obnoxious car and let her in. She drove to the front of the house where Andre's mother was gardening.

"Thanks Trina." Tori said, hugging her and leaving the car. Trina drove off as Tori walked towards the front door.

"Hey Mrs. Harris!" Tori said, greeting her.

She stood up and hugged Tori.

"Tori! You have no idea how glad I am to see you here."

Tori smiled. Mrs. Harris didn't like Jade that much, and was a good friend of Tori's.

Tori walked in to see the living room empty. She went upstairs and walked through the hallway, until she was at Andre's bedroom.

She opened Andre's bedroom door to see his bed covers shifting and hear Jade moaning.

She immediately slammed the door and took a huge step back.

"GUYS I'M SO SORRY, I'LL JUST WAIT DOWNSTAIRS!" Tori yelled, embarrassed.

She ran back downstairs and sat on the couch at the table.

About 10 minutes later, Jade came down stairs in basketball shorts and a tank top with her hair tied up, she went to the kitchen.

"Jade, I'm so sorry."

"Shut up, it's fine, just forget it happened."

A few minutes later, Andre came downstairs.

"Hey, Tori." He said, awkwardly.

"Sorry." She responded.

"No, I'm sorry."

"It's your bedroom, I should've knocked, or called before I came or something."

"I should've locked the door." Andre shrugged.

"No really, it's my fault, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Tori."

"It really is. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing Tori, it's my fault."

"So did you just come over to watch us have sex or is there another reason?" Jade asked, ending the never ending cycle of apologies.

"Jade." Andre said warningly.

Jade rolled her eyes.

"I uh...actually I...wow, I wasn't expecting you to say that." Tori said, flustered and embarrassed.

Andre chuckled a bit.

"So I'll take that as a yes?" Jade asked.

"NO! Not at all! I actually came over because I wanted to talk to Andre. About the album." Tori said, making sure to add the last part.

"Okay, go ahead." Andre said.

"I really want to make the album mostly songs we wrote in high school. Make It Shine, You're The Reason, Tell Me That You Love Me, all that."

"That's cool, but we haven't exactly made that many radio hit type songs, if your album is gonna be successful, you gotta...you know..."

"What?"

"Sell out." Jade said.

"Sell out?" Tori asked.

"Sell out, hard. Make a few dumb catchy songs, with lyrics that are simple and easy to remember." Jade explained, nonchalantly shrugging.

Tori raised her eyebrows and looked at Jade, then back at Andre.

"Not exactly sell out, just, make a few singles." Andre explained.

"Singles?"

"Like...uh...name a rapper you like."

"Childish Gambino."

"Okay. So you know his song 3005, right?"

"Yeah."

"It was the catchiest song on his album, so he released it first, made a music video, now the song is blowing up, it's everywhere, even though it doesn't exactly match the rest of his album."

"But he didn't sell out, the lyrics are smart and meaningful, it's just catchy. So all I have to do is make a few catchy songs?"

"Depends on what you want your image to be." Andre said.

"Image?"

Jade sighed.

"This is gonna take a while." She said.

"I just want to make an album with about 10 to 15 songs that are catchy and reflect me as a person, can't we just do that?" Tori asked.

"If it was that easy, we'd all be famous."

"But, but I can sing, and you can write songs and make beats, and..."

"It's more than just that."

"Beck can add effects and your dad's record label..."

"It's more than just that."

"What would compel me to just randomly buy your album?" Jade asked.

Tori looked confused.

"Because you know I can sing, and you're kinda my friend?" Tori responded, cautiously.

"I don't know you, I'm just a random person, just looking through iTunes for new music, and I just see the name "Tori Vega" as a new artist that's released an album. I've never heard of her before, what would make me listen to her?"

Tori shrugged.

"I'll get together with Dad's marketing team, we'll pitch some ideas around, for now, just relax. We can start working on a tracklist."

"Like, the order of the songs?" Tori asked.

"Yeah, what do you want the theme of the album to be?"

"...I have no idea."

Jade sighed.

"I guess this IS gonna take a while." Andre said.

**Beck and Robbie sat in Robbie's Grandmother's Living Room**

"I really really love your style Robbie, it's like, clever lyrical wit, mixed with musicality and comedy. But I feel like you're less of a studio artist. I think your style lends itself to more as a musical stand-up comedian than a music artist." Beck said.

"Stand-Up? Like, live? In front of people?" Robbie asked.

"You can still record stuff in studio, I just think you'd make it big in stand-up comedy. What's you stage name/character's name again?"

"Bo Burnham."

"Bo Burnham, that catchy. I like that."

They heard a knock at the door.

Robbie opened it to see Cat.

"Hey, Cat! Come in!" Robbie said.

"I just left the gym. I played a couple games with Trina and Dana. They're really serious about the WNBA, Trina was thinking about leaving college for this draft but her parents talked her out of it." Cat said, sitting down. She usually immediately started a conversation when she entered a room.

"I wish I was as good as them." Cat added.

"You are." Beck reassured her.

"I'm not, don't gas me up and make me feel better than I actually am."

"Caterina Valentine, you are..."

"Robbie, don't 'Caterina Valentine' me. I'm serious right now, I'm not that good. I'm just really fast."

Robbie just sighed.

"I don't know what I'm going to do." Cat said.

"You have to believe in yourself. If you don't believe it in here..." Robbie said, pointing to Cat's heart.

"Then it'll never happen. You're a great player, you just gotta realize that."

Cat smiled a bit.

"Thanks, Robbie."

"Anytime, Cat."

**Tori and Andre (with strict supervision from Jade) had been making this tracklist for hours.**

"Okay, so, I've decided that 'Make It Shine' will be your promotional single." Andre said.

"Promotional single?"

"For the last 5 hours, anytime you've made a statement about this album, Tori has just repeated the last thing you said, so you might as well start explaining stuff as you say it." Jade said.

Tori nodded.

Andre sighed.

"A promotional single is a song that's released before the album to promote the album, but it's not on the album. It's just used to get people familiar with your name and voice."

"Oh."

Tori heard a car horn beep loudly and vaguely heard "Bible On The Dash" by Gunplay playing from a car.

"Okay, we'll finalize the tracklist tomorrow." Andre said.

"Okay. Thanks guys, I really appreciate it!" Tori grabbed her things and left when Trina honked the horn again.

It was just Andre and Jade/

"Jade."

"What?"

"Thanks for treating Tori half-decent today."

Jade rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"I'm serious, you weren't horribly mean to her like you normally are, I honestly appreciate that."

"Well, you're welcome I guess." Jade said shrugging.

**Tori &amp; Trina were in the car riding home.**

"Why did you pick me up so early?" Tori asked.

"I'm going to a party soon, I figured I'd pick you up now so I don't 'endanger your life'." Trina said, sarcastically.

Tori chuckled.

"Thanks, I guess?"

"You're welcome."

They rode in silence.

"Why haven't you gotten your car stolen yet?" Tori asked.

Trina burst into laughter.

"Don't jinx me, Tori."

"You have gold, diamond encrusted rims, that's like spray painting 'carjack me' on the hood."

Trina just rolled her eyes and kept driving.


End file.
